Tanzania among Africa's most innovative nations, says global body
What you need to know:
- Factors such as Covid-19 have been a catalyst for business leaders to build industries, solutions and integrate staff around frontier technologies
Arusha. Tanzania has emerged among the leading countries in innovation in Africa for 2022.
This is according to the Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
Fellow countries in the East African Community (EAC) bloc; Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda are also listed.
The recent report said Tanzania performed above expectations under the lower middle income category.
WIPO said many countries in Africa have climbed up the tech ladder to join the rest of the world in running economies driven by innovation.
According to the report, Morocco, Mauritius and South Africa are ranked as the most innovative African countries.
The trio have significantly moved up closer to developed economies in the ranking over the past few years.
Tanzania, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and Zimbabwe performed above expectations under the lower-middle income group.
On the other hand, Burundi, Rwanda, Madagascar and Mozambique outperformed on innovation relative to their development in the low-income group.
South Africa exceeded expectations in the upper middle-income group while Mauritius performed within expectations in the same group.
Ghana and Senegal’s innovation performance was in line with their economic development in the lower-middle income category.
This is also the case with Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Niger in the low-income group. The rest of the nations, including the continent’s biggest economy, Nigeria and the highly innovative, Botswana performed below expectation, the report said.
Guinea is the least innovative country this year in an index that surveyed 31 African countries.
However, WIPO maintains that compared to the rest of the world, Africa remains the least innovative continent.
The survey ranks Switzerland as the world’s top destination for innovation followed by the United States.
In recent years, Africa significantly lagged behind in digital transformation, but Covid-19, which forced many employees to work from their homes, acted as a much-needed catalyst in building industries around frontier technologies.
Consequently, business leaders realised urgency in creating solutions around cloud computing uptake, blockchain development, and artificial intelligence while upscaling their staff on these technologies.
